Gazpacho inspired by Jamie Oliver, found in the book Jamie does |Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece, France|

Try it once and you will never buy the readymade soup again, it is so easy to make and the taste is so much better. The soup is made with only raw vegetables and leftover stale bread. The toppings are up to you, more finely diced vegetables or even some crispy bacon.

What you need:

250 grams of stale white bread + water                              

4-5 ripe red tomatoes                               

¾ cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped

(use 1 pepino negro if available to you)

1 green pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

Glug of Spanish extra virgin olive oil

Dash of Sherry vinegar

Salt and pepper

Pinch of sugar

Garnishes: finely diced red/green pepper, salad onion, cucumber, bacon, serrano ham, quail’s eggs, extra virgin olive oil, homemade crouton’s from more stale bread, Maldon salt.

 

What to do:

»   Slice the crust of the bread, then tear the bread into bits and put into a bowl with 100ml of water.       

»   Remove the skin of the tomatoes; make a cross in the end opposite the stalk, put the tomatoes in a heat proof bowl and pour over boiling water, leave for 2 min. the replace the boiling water with cold water and leave for 2 min, you should now be able to peel of the skin with your fingers. Cut away the stalk and chop into bits.

»   Use a large jug o liquidizer and put in the vegetables first and then the soaked up bread. Add a good glug of olive oil and a dash of sherry vinegar and seasoning to your taste.

»   Run the liquidizer or use a stick blender to mix the content to a pulp, add water if it is too thick. Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge to chill.

»   Serve the soup when it is cold, as you like with the toppings your like.

 

This is a fantastic treat on a hot summer’s day

 

I went to the market in Frigiliana, Andalucia, Spain to buy the vegetables for the soup, there is a market twice a week where you can pick-up locally produced fruit and vegetables among the usual tourist stuff.